Chapter One

Albus Severus Potter had never seen such a bright white sky, he was almost certain of it. Al grinned as he threw open the dormitory window with what can only be described as childish excitement; snow. Snow was most defiantly (probably) on its way. James had boasted all through his two weeks back at home last Christmas about how you never, evergot snow as deep in Lower Shiplake as you did in Scotland, and Albus and Lily would probably never, eversee snow like that when they came to Hogwarts. "Why not?" Albus had asked his older brother; "Well, that's obvious, silly. EVERYONE knows the muggles are heating the world up so much that pretty soon there won't be any snow anymore. Grandpa says it's 'cos of how muggles cook, see. They use up heat from the sun and so all the sun's heat is here and not in space and it makes everything really really hot". Lily had stormed up to her Dad and demanded he make it snow for her when she was at Hogwarts. Or else let her go to Hogwarts now. Albus had stared at his brother for a few moments before rapidly blinking away the moisture gathering in his eyes and said, "At least one of us got to see it, I guess. Could you….maybe…could you take a photo for me? You know I like snow…" Al wasn't stupid by any mean, but he was certainly gullible and slightly naïve. He always hoped his family and friends would lead him in the right direction. But that's the way it had always been; James and Lily storming around the house like hurricanes, commanding the attention of all they met and loving every second of it, while Al listened and learnt and laughed only when he saw everyone else doing so. While Al hoped he'd get through Hogwarts without embarrassing himself and his family too much, James' life ambition was to be at the very least as talented a quidditch player as his Mum and Dad combined and Lily simply wanted to be the most popular person that there had ever been in the whole history of the universe.

Ha! I knew Jamie was lying! Albus continued to stare out of the window as, sure enough, snow began to fall, wondering if maybe, just maybe he could come up with a prank so clever that James would rue the day he – "Are you coming or not? You'll look like a complete idiot coming in on your own, you know". Albus whirled round, smile dropping slowly off his face as he remembered what Frank Longbottom was talking about. The Winter Ball. The reason Albus was standing in the world's most uncomfortable dress robes and feeling like a complete and utter prat. "Frank, do you think, maybe, you could say I'm ill? Like a head-ache? Or stomach-ache or maybe a foot cramp that means I can't leave my bed or something like that? It's just ,well, I AM a bit ill". Harry blinked at him. "OK well I'm not really but I just… just – ", "What Al? You just what? If you don't come down with me I'll send your brother up". "…I'll just go put my shoes on". Frank had spent the previous evening trying to convince that Al that the Ball would be 'fun' and 'a laugh' and not, as Al had suspected, 'a-stupid-thing-made-up-to-make-everyone-see-Albus-was-so-rubbish-compared-to-every-other-person-that-he-couldn't-even-dance-a-simple-jig'. Besides, Frank refused to go with just Harry Daniels (who was commonly acknowledged as 'hilarious' and so made Frank look dull) and Sean Finnigan (whose Irish accent was so strong no one really knew what he was saying), and he needed Al to come to make sure that he would have someone to talk to if all the other houses were in clique-y moods. Fifteen minutes later Albus was walking with a slight limp through the portrait hole. A blister was beginning to form on the sole of his left foot, courtesy of his shiny new dancing shoes.

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Scorpius lay on his back with his hands behind his head and sighed. The pros of going to the Ball were;

Seeing if that Ravenclaw 4th year Jessica Patil was really as good at waltzing as she claimed to be ("My mother taught me everything I know – and SHE learnt it off Harry Potter himself!")

Seeing if the decorations in the Great Hall lived up to gossip.

Seeing if anyone other than Lauren and Phoenix would talk to him.

Scorpius frowned. It was best not to think like that. He'd accepted what his treatment was to be at school , he really had. And so there was no point in hoping for anything else. None at all. Anyway, it's not like any of the Slytherins beside Lauren and Phoenix were worth talking to anyway. And the other houses? Not only was he a slytherin, but an obviously evil Slytherin from a family of Death Eaters. He even had the numbers to prove it. Stop it. Stopitstopitstopit. Think of the cons now;

Lauren Parkinson was a truly hideous dancer and Scorpius wanted to keep his feet.

Though Scorpius knew his dress robes were beautiful they would probably not be appreciated by the school community and may be deemed 'weird' or 'uncool'.

Scorpius wanted to watch the snow fall and he probably wouldn't be able to from the hall – windows always fogged up when there were lots of people in there in the winter.

The dormitory door flew open while Scorpius was still trying to think of a number 4. "Scooooorpius! What are we doing in bed then, hmmmm? Surely you're not going to sleep in your …er… snazzy dress robes?" "I'm not in my bed, I'm on my bed. I'm thinking." "There is no time for that so come on. Let's DANCE!!!" And with that Lauren grabbed Scorpius' right wrist which was poking out from behind his head and pulled him off the bed. Scorpius had just enough time to put his feet on the floor before Lauren had flung him out the door. Glancing at his only female friend as she frog marched him towards the hall, her long dark curls bobbing around her oval, pale face, Scorpius realised it had never really been his decision in the first place.